How I Balance Having a Family, Full-time Job and Side Hustle

How I Balance Having a Family, Full-time Job and Side Hustle

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how I balance my family, a full-time job and a side hustle. It’s definitely not easy being a full-time working mom and wife while being an aspiring blogger (emphasis on aspiring). First of all, I want to make it clear that it’s far from easy. Being a mom is a full-time job in itself, and working 40 hours a week, while trying to maintain a happy marriage can be exhausting. I feel like because I have less free time than ever before, it’s made me so much more efficient. I know many of you are in similar situations, so I wanted to share some of my favorite tips! In my opinion, balance is key so here are some of the ways I try to juggle it all!

1. Find something that you’re passionate about

If you’re going to have some sort of side hustle, do not do it for the sake of having a side hustle. Do not do it just to make extra money. If either of those things is your motivation, you’re going to burn yourself out very quickly. Having a side hustle in addition to having a child/children, a spouse and/or full-time job is going to be tiring. It’s also going to take away from time that you could be spending with your family, signification other, or friends. Time is precious, so if you are going to devote some of the little extra time you have to something make sure that it’s worth it. Make sure that it’s something that you can’t stop thinking about, that makes you feel fulfilled, that you’re excited to spend time working on.

2. Make sure you have your priorities straight

My to-do lists are always a mile long, but no matter what I have going on my family is always my biggest priority. It’s so easy to let things slip through the crack when you have so much going on. To keep this from happening, you have to decide what your priorities are from the beginning. If you’re clear on your priorities, you won’t waste time on people or things that distract you from what’s actually important. Sometimes my husband has to remind me that I’m spending too much time on social media or the computer. When you get off track, it’s nice to have someone who can remind you to focus on your priorities.

3. Time block

When you have a million things to juggle at once, it’s SO important to time block. If you’re not familiar with time blocking, it’s basically just assigning time slots for each thing that you need to get done in a day. I start by writing out my to-do list for the day. Then, I schedule a time slot for each task (for example: check emails from 9:00-9:30). It’s rare that my schedule goes exactly as planned because well-life, but it forces me to stay on task instead of just wasting 2 hours scrolling through Instagram. When the time frame for a task has ended, you move on to the next thing on the list. I’ve noticed I get so much more done using this method. You can buy an actual time cube at Amazon!

4. Plan ahead

My time is pretty limited these days, so in order to make the most of my “free time” (I use that term loosely), I try to plan ahead as much as possible. I’m all about routines, and to-do lists that help me stay on track throughout the week. I schedule my Instagram posts using the Planoly app, and make sure my captions and hashtags are all ready to go the night before I post. When I’m really on top of it, I’ll have a whole weeks worth of posts schedule ahead of time. I make our lunches, get Gray’s snacks, clothes and toys ready for the sitter the night before so that we have more time in the morning. Since I only have the weekends off, I usually designate Saturday for photos. I batch my content and post photos from that one day throughout the week. After Gray and my husband are asleep, I usually try to work on blog posts or I prepare content for upcoming campaigns. It doesn’t matter what your side hustle is, planning ahead will be a game changer.

5. Find something that helps you unwind

Balancing all of these things can be stressful, and can take a toll on your mentally, physically and emotionally. To be successful at maintaining all of the different aspects of your personal and professional life, you need to find a way to relax. My standards are pretty low when it comes to relaxation, so something as simple as reading, listening to a podcast, getting my eyelashes done, going for a walk alone or even going to the grocery store alone are all ways that I practice self care. It’s so important to find something that you do for yourself-mainly so you don’t go crazy, but also so that you don’t forget to make yourself a priority. Nothing is going to get done if you’re burnt out, so take care of yourself before you get to that point.

I hope these tips were helpful! I’d love to know what some of your favorite tips are!

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31 Comments

This is a great post! You’re doing amazing Safi! I don’t work full time as of yet but I can definitely agree that being a mom is already a full time job, so when we add other aspirations in it can make life hectic! But it’s definitely worth it!

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This is awesome. I am in the same boat as you are…full time working mom/ side gig/ ministry… life is busy! These are great tips and you already seem like such an established blogger… you’re an inspiration for sure!

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I loved reading this, so helpful! I constantly have to remind myself balance, balance, balance. I will try to put so much on my plate and then get overwhelmed finding ways to unwind and step back has been so helpful for me!

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Really liked you Time Block tip. As a mom you want to be all in one and never set a limit on each task so much of time juggling between what to do. This leads to a really exhausted situation where you feel guilty and loose a self confidence.

About Me

Mother & Blogger

I'm Safi, a mama and wife. Motherhood has been quite the journey, and I decided to start this blog to document every step of the way. I love sharing fashion, products I love and motherhood tips I've picked up along the way. Thanks for stopping by!